Antonio Villaraigosa: Obama continues Clinton tradition

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says President Barack Obama is a centrist alternative to a backward-looking Republican Party — and there’s a direct line from the president back to Bill Clinton.

“The Clinton policies are the Obama policies,” Villaraigosa said, speaking at the kickoff POLITICO Playbook breakfast of the Democratic National Convention here.

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VIDEO: Villaraigosa: GOP a party for 1812

The former president has become an active surrogate for Obama, and he’ll address delegates here in a showcase speech Wednesday night. But Villaraigosa, who’s serving as the Democratic convention chairman, didn’t even wait for the opening session to keep stoking the nostalgia of a time when the economy was stronger and terrorism was a more distant threat.

And Villaraigosa said Obama has learned the lessons from his predecessor about the kind of politics to practice to get there.

“I’m a Democrat with a small ‘d.’ I believe very strongly in what I call the radical center,” said Villaraigosa. “I believe that the president is moving down that path.”

Villaraigosa pointed to Obama’s willingness to tackle entitlement reforms and his own efforts to dismantle some of the seniority protections and pension benefits for teacher’s unions as examples of Democrats being willing to challenge their own party orthodoxies.

By contrast, Villaraigosa said that the GOP has moved sharply to the right in recent elections — a move that he said would hurt them with voters.

“You read the Republican Party platform — you close your eyes for a moment — and it could easily be 1812 with the things they’re proposing.”

“I think that’s very different from us,” Villaraigosa said. “We’re a party that’s looking within and challenging ourselves.”